Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny Questionaire

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself?
a couple years - intermediate

2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)?
mostlyI like 2 or 3 ply, cabled yarn is fun too

3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)?
I spindle but prefer wheel spinning

4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don't like?
wool, alpaca, silk blends, anything carded. I'm not a big fan of sparkly stuff although I will spin it to gift to someone else.

5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)?
copperpot woolies batts are lovely and well made, loop on etsy (haven't tried but would like to), I like to spin my own stuff and often do but I more often sell or gift mine and use the mulaa to buy other people's fiber goods

6. What kind of fiber do you want to try?
quivit

7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn?
coils

8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn?
yes

9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber?
I have a drum carder that I love but ready to spin is super fun and, of course, ready to spin!

10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed?
look at it? Isn't that what you're supposed to do with it? Seriously, I'm working on sweaters, hats, scarves, fingerless mitts. Oh, and I sometimes gift it to my sister or niece who also like to knit.

11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)?
a pretty orifice hook would be nice. I saw a sample size niddy noddy somewhere on the web that looked fun.

12. What colors "fall into your shopping basket"? Any colors you just can't stand?
pinks and reds tend to fall in most often. I think I have some of most colors in my stash. I'm constantly challenged by my teenaged kids to try new things so I do. I will try anything - if I don't like it, it gets dyed.

13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now?
hand carded tweed batts made by me, purple dyed rambouillet laceweight I dyed and accidentally matted - oops have to keep that one.

14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have?
peyote beading, sewing, quilting

15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about?
only knitting and spinning are really passions right now. Oh, and working with foster kids - respite care - can't get enough of them.

16. Do you have an online wishlist?
only on Wollmeise

17. Is there anything that you collect?
yarn & fiber? do those count?

18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don't currently subscribe to any. I buy Spin Off and IK regularly

19. When is your birthday?
October 6

20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality?
really strange question - I don't know

21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)?
don't blink, rain to hot, you just never know in Oregon. last week it was 60 and today its almost 100

22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself!
My husband says I'm pretty normal, can't think of anything weird. Oh, I like Nascar more than some guys - him, at least.

Favorites
favorite painting/picture(link):
Who needs a link, I have this one - the original - hanging in my office


Candy: sugar babies, chocolate - medium dark

Food: pizza, authentic Mexican, anything barbequed

Drink: Diet Coke, Chai

Movie(s): National Treasure, Serenity

TV Show(s): CSIs, Law & Order (all of them), The Closer, Hell's Kitchen, Firefly

Book(s): Emma Brown,

Guilty Pleasure(s): NASCAR!!!!! love it!

Let's try this again

Long time, no post. Crazy huh? I've been sucked into the Ravelry hole (friend me, I'm jenknits) - what a major time suck that is, but I love to waste my time there. Mostly I lurk around and queue patterns and dream of stuff I'd like to knit or yarns I'd like to play with.

There's been spinning and knitting and carding and dyeing as well.

This is a batt I made for the June Spin-a-long on Ravelry. It's a tweed I created at the beginning of June and I forgot to write down what I did so I don't even remember what all is in it. I think its mostly burgandy and pink merinos with blue dyed tussah silk, a bit of yellow merino and green merino added at the end so it shows and some light grey 100% super soft alpaca blended in really well.I'm spinning it with a supported long draw pretty thick and I'm planning to two-ply it into a bulky yarn that will be super soft.
There's also been a lot of knitting. I'm co-moderating a group on Ravelry that discusses the book A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd. What a fabulous book that is! So far I've carded lots of batts and spun up lots of yarn in hopes of a sweater from the book. But in my excitement to get started I ordered a yarn to start the Trinity vest so I could be knitting something from the book amoungst my spininng time. It's a nicely written pattern and I love the yarn I chose but the trinity stitch hurts my hands some so I'm chugging along a little slow just a few rows at a time.
A month in and only about 6 inches. Then again, there is all the other distraction. I have lots of other stuff on the needles all the time - project monogamy is definitely not for me.

Oh, and just for a shameless shop plug, I've done a lot of dyeing and posting lately and here a couple of my favorites - both in superfine mernino top.

What's in a Name

Okay this is just weird. I know, I know, I don't blog in for...ev....er, and then post this lame blogthing. But how do these people know me so well? Just about every word of this name thing is me to a T. Unbelievable. I'm gonna go do a my kids.

What Jennifer Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are loving, compassionate, and ruled by your feelings. You are able to be a foundation for other people... but you still know how to have fun. Sometimes your emotions weigh you down, but you generally feel free from them. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Playing in the fiber

The basic fact is, I'd rather knit than write about it, therefore, no pictures and all in a list. Here's a rundown of what's been up:

*The fingerless mitts? They're done! They just need a little soak and then into the Christmas drawer to await their eager recipient.

*I've also been spinning some wonderful alpaca/wool handdyed by a company that I can't find online.

*I'm carding a gorgeous blend of alpaca/superwash merino/fake cashmere that will be sock yarn. YUM does not even begin to cover it. I'll take a picture of that in progress for sure.

*I went to a local knitting group on Sunday. Fun! Met some interesting people, but they meet a little too early in the day for my schedule so I don't know if that will work for me.

*We're starting a NEW SPINNING GROUP! This Sunday from 1 to 4 at a local yarn shop. I meets a little later so I can go to all of church and still eat with the kids before I go. Only once a month though. Can't wait to meet spinners from my town and play.

*Started knitting on the thrummed hat for to dear one who went off to college in Alaska. He's been complaining that his handknit hat's holes are too big and air comes through. This one will have a hemmed edge and 50/50 angora merino thrums. I just DARE him to exercise that same complaint. HA!

*Oh! And I finished a whole scarf. Ala Brooklyn Tweed only out of two colorways of Boku also for dear one in Alaska with orders from the kiddos still home for more colors in less scratchy yarn. It is gorgeous, but beware to tight knitters. Boku is breaky and not great for those who knit tightly unless weaving in ends is at the top of your list of fun things to do.

Okay, pictures later maybe. Unless I get distracted doing something more fun like, oh, say, knitting.

Imagine That

A progress photo? I thought a progress photo was in order. Usually I completely forget to take photos of pretty much everything. This time I've - so far - only forgotten to photograph the batt. My previous post shows the two-ply yarn spun by me that I'm using to knit these mitts. So far they are lovely. I'm very happy with them. I just hope they fit since my hands - i.e. bones -- are very small making fitting hand clothing very difficult. I'm just to the point where I'm starting the thumb gusset over one of the lacy motifs so and they should increase just perfectly fitwise. Oh, and are they ever warm and soft.

By the way, if you have any interest in this type of fiber, I have a few in my Etsy shop as well as a few that I'm getting ready to post there. They all have close to 30% each merino and/or superwash merino, 30% kid mohair and 30% tussah silk with the additional 10% being bits of angora or alpaca or, in one case, bamboo. All are semi-solids.

Tip of the Day

Jennifer's Tips to Combat Global Warming

1. Turn up the heat full blast.

2. Open all the doors to let the heat out into the atmosphere.

3. Bake cookies so your house and your insides and your psyche stay all warm and cosy.

Handspun is best

I just love how that red fluff came out. I really tried to concentrate on not making it too perfect. Spinning from batts is such a treat that I decided to do more of it. So here's some soft and shiny charcoal that sparkles with little bits of color that I threw on the batt. While I have no clue what to do with the red, I spun the black with a purpose. It will be fingerless mitts for my niece. I just hope they're warm enough. The batt included about a third each of merino, kid mohair and tussah silk and came out two-ply about fingering weight. A while back I dyed a bunch of superwash merino in shades of purple. I don't think I ever blogged about the dyed roving but the spinning is here. Well I finally got around to knitting up the socks and they are done! Yea. I am so not a finisher so this is a very fun day for me. I'm wearing my new socks.Pattern: Fractal Stripe Sock from Spin-Off Magazine Summer 2007

Materials: my handspun, superwash merino, sport weight 2-ply, dyed by me

Needles: US5 Addis

Wanna see the roving? Okay, you twisted my arm. Here it is.

Secret Stash Questionaire

Lame, I know. To only write a blog post in order to answer some questions. Oh, well. Here they are.

Questionnaire:
1) When is you birthday? October 6
2) How long have you been spinning? a little over year
3) How long have you been blending your fibers? a few months
4) What types of blends do you like to make and spin? I love kid mohair, silk and wool. Most of the time I just add lots of soft stuff and not too funky if it's for me.
5) What types of fibers do you NOT like? Are you allergic to any kinds of fiber? I'm not allergic, just a tad sensitive to scratchy, rougher wools or older mohair. I can't handle strong floral scents.
6) What are your favorite colors? All of them, even the neutrals
7) What are you least favorite colors? probably purple
8) What type of yarns do you like to spin? (singles, plied, novelty, fingering, bulky, etc.) Still trying to figure out singles. I mostly do two ply and I'm anxious to play with mohair locks.
9) What type of blending equipment do you use? Clems & Clems manual drum carder
10) What type of wheel or spindle do you spin on? Ashford traveller, sometimes a drop spindle
11) What do you do with your handspun yarn? knit with it, give it away, look at it. I've sold a few skeins, but never anything that someone's given me.
12) What are your interests outside of spinning? knitting, crochet, dyeing, yarn & fiber & fabric, cooking, sewing, quilting, eating chocolate, watching football, watching Nascar, being with my kids
13) What types of music do you like? Christian Contemporary, Josh Groban
14) What types of movies do you like? anything Bourne, action, anything Jane Eyre
15) Do you collect anything? fiber!
16) What types of candy and snacks do you like and dislike? good chocolate, sugar babies, Brach's brand candy corn
17) Do you have any food allergies to common "goodies"? (ie: chocolate, nuts, etc.) nope

What a fun swap this will be. I can't wait to spoil and be spoiled!

And as for updating my blog. Hmmm, that will have to wait for me to motivate another time. I've got picutures and projects and just tons to say but no motivation. Go figure. Oh! I did finish that yarn from the red fluff and it IS luscious! TEASE!

Red Fluff

News front the red fluff front. aka more red photography frustration.

This is one of the balls of fluff that I'm spinning from.Kid Mohair, Merino, SW Merino, Angora, Cashgora, Tussah Silk and Rambouillette

Here's two more batts that are for sale in my Etsy shop.

Oh, and here it in on the bobbin so far. It's a tad overspun, but I'm hoping that I can ply out that bit of overspinnage.

I'm also playing with lots more colors on the carder. Any special requests?

Ready to Card

Red is a bugger to photograph. But you all knew that already didn't you. Below is a basket of red toned fibers that I plan to card together on the drum carder to make a fluffy romantic batt or two.

From 10:00 clockwise: Cashgora, 100% rambouilette, angora/merino, 100% tussah silk, 100% kid mohair

Yea for new colorways

I've got a couple new colorways that I'm really liking so I wanted to show them off here.

Beach Glass

Moon Dreams

FO Friday

I finished an adorable hat to go with an adorable pair of unfinished booties. Now I just need to learn how to make the little seam so the booties can become finished.

Pattern: Seed Stitch Hat

Source: My own, made to match the bootees

Yarn: Sublime 100% extra fine merino

Pattern: Textured-Cuff Bootees
Source: 50 Baby Bootees to Knit
Yarn: Sublime 100% extra fine merino

Also finished this week is the headband I showed unblocked last week. I really like it now. It's a tad big and I don't really like the finishing. I have another one almost finished that I'm thinking of grafting instead of the three-neeedle bind-off to attach the underside to itself.

Pattern: Zig Zag Headband
Source: Knit Purl yarn shop
Yarn: It's a Colorful Life, Mykonos Dark colorway
Amount: 10 grams

This is a great pattern for using leftover bits of sock yarn.

Prayers for Minnesotans

I've been glued to the tube for a couple hours now watching the reporting on the massive bridge collapse in Minneapolis. To all in that part of Minnesota or with relatives involved I want you to know my prayer will be with you tonight. The miracle of the school bus landing on all four tires moved me. I pray for more miracles as the search for survivors continues.

Amy Singer was here, I bought stuff

So here's Amy being really silly. This was after she'd taught her Tuscany lace class at Knit Purl and she was a little punchy. Here she's modeling her new cotton sock yarn waddle. I really don't like how I look in pictures but I did want a one of me with Amy so here it is.
I did enjoy some fun new stash purchases. I went in with a little bit of a plan and being a true "one skein girl" I bought a few onesies.
Top: Brown Malabrigo worsted weight for a hat for my college bound boy who just moved to Alaska.
Bottom Left to Right: Brown Rio de la Plata for another hat for the boy. It is very cold there and he'll need one to wear and one to ... Scratch that. I don't think he'll wash them. If he does, he'll probably ruin them.
Next: Handmaiden Sea Silk in a one of a kind colorway. I already started the sweet Amy Singer design, Montego Bay, from IK Summer 2007.

Next: ShiBui fingering weight. This is already being knitted into a zigzag headband. I got the pattern at Knit Purl and already made one but I had to rewrite the pattern at the end because the instructions either just don't make sense to me or they're wrong. Either way, I figured out how to complete the headband and they are fun and quick and don't take very much yarn so I think I'll do up some more to use as samples of my regular stock colorways.

Last one, on the right: Koigu in a pretty colorway. Don't know what it'll be yet. Probably ankle socks.

And this here be two FOs! That's Abigail's brilliant four corners dishcloth pattern knit in kitchen cotton yarn dyed by me. I'm doing up more of these dyed cotton yarns so, if you have an interest in unique kitchen cotton yarn, keep an eye on my etsy shop.

That's all for today. I'll check in again soon with more spinning and knitting.

It's official...I'm a blogger slug

Has it really been that long? Summer is half over and I've not posted in so long I don't know where to start. There's been spinning and knitting and dyeing and S.E.X.! Oh, and I'm on Ravelry. I'm jenknits over there in case you want to go check out my stash and projects. I'm hoping to get the rest of my growing stash there soon so that I can keep track of on going projects and future projects.

I did spin up some 100% tussah silk that I dyed in brown, navy and gold. This was a combo I really wanted to try in a fiber I really wanted to try. I'm not terribly pleased with either the colorway or the spinning but I think it will be nice once it's knitted up. There's only 180 yards so I don't know what it will become yet...maybe a long thin lacy scarf.

Here it is on the bobbins. I think I just need more practice on silk to "get it". I'm not sure how much twist to put in and I think my plying could've been a little tighter as well.

Here's another spinning project. This is some 100% Merino roving that my friend picked up for me at Black Sheep Gathering. Of course I handpainted it. This is the Seafoam colorway spun in fractal stripes. That is, I split the roving in half and spun as is in rally long color repeats. The other half (on the second bobbin) I further split the roving in thirds to make shorter color repeats. This has been plied (no pic yet) and I can't wait to see what the striping does once it's knitted. I'm thinking raglan top-down baby jacket.

One Sideways sock done! Yippee! This is my shadows colorway.

Catching up

I've been hard at work trying to get at least one pair of socks finished for the 52 pair plunge. Here is my first pair. So far I'm only 5 weeks behind but I knew when I joined that I would be a turtle. These are Magic 28 socks knit in 1/1 rib. They will probably take a journey to Mongolia with my cousin and his wife when they return there in July. They live in a very cold, very poor area so these can be used by a small child in their community. I'm planning on this being just the first of a bunch that get to take the trip with them. This yarn is some worsted weight wool that I dyed. It felted ever so slightly when I rinsed it out making it unsaleable. I have enough left for a couple more pairs of these little cuties.Here is my "in between" spinning. This is gorgeous 75% mohair, 25% wool that I got at a fiber sale a couple months ago. The vendor is Sheep Hollow Farm. Since I absolutely L.O.V.E. red it is very entertaining for me to spin. I'm trying to spin it very softly and the two-ply is quite bulky.
This is my "in between" spinning because I'm spinning it in between spinning bobbins 2 and 3 of this gorgeous purple and violet superwash merino that I dyed myself. I'm planning on a 3 ply sock yarn with this and, amazingly, these bobbins weigh within one gram! of each other. I split the roving in thirds and I think it's pretty amazing that I split it so acurately.

Here are the first two bobbins hanging out in front of one of my pretty azalea bushes enjoying the evening sunshine.And this, my friends, is softly spun slightly thick and thin yarn I spun from a batt created by Miss Violet of Lime and Violet fame. The yarn is pretty and sparkly. Not as soft as I like since the wool in it is coarser than I usually choose but the silk makes it kinda interesting and softens it up a bit. I can't remember what all was in the batt. I have to say I like my spinning batts a little more blended (prepared?) but I understand that she was trying to accomplish chunky bits of color and not tweed so it did work the way she intended. I'm just really like spinning combed top I guess. And I hadn't spun anything with Angelina fibers before so that was kinda interesting and fun. This color also blends perfectly with the skein I made using my ghetto hackle and the weight of yarn is equivalent enough that I think I may knit them up into a stripey hat and use the softer superwash merino/targhee blend that I made as the brim of the hat with this as a wide stripe. Pattern ideas anyone?
Oh, and here's a close up. It is very pretty don't you think?

I've been reading Lolly's journey the past couple weeks while she's been on her journey to good health and I was inspired to buy the book she recommended. It didn't take more than a couple pages to realize that "it's time". I need to get off caffeine and cleanse the junk out of my body. My muscles ache a lot of the time and I almost literally live on caffeine which makes it difficult to get really good rest and makes me pretty tense by the end of the day. I also have a very small upper torso making me a prime candidate for osteoporosis in the future which is also a good reason to occasionally reassess what I'm putting in my body.

Today I have a pretty bad headache. I started weaning off caffeine on Sunday and have cut my daily intake from the equivalent of maybe 6 large lattes a day (probably more) to 4 diet cokes a day. Maybe that's too quick of a shift but I'm guzzling water and eating healthier foods. I also cut out white sugar and white flour starting Sunday. I'm still craving sweets but I figure I need to take control so I'm just trying to keep busy and not think about food all the time. I do typically eat when I get headaches so today it's been hard. Right now as I right this it's almost time for a little caffeine so I'm hoping that will take the edge off.

I apologize if you came here looking for knitting or spinning news. I'm still dyeing for the local shop and developing new colorways on cotton yarns as well as trying out some of those great colorways that were suggested during the contest last week. I will continue to talk about my journey on the UltraSimple Diet so this is fair warning. It's only for a couple weeks so it shouldn't get too boring.

If you have any encouragement or caffeine withdrawal secrets I'd love to listen.

Be sure to go check out Lolly's inpirational journey.

And the winner is

My youngest child chose......

knitstiks

from the big white pot.

And my favorite was....

Caribbean Sunset

[If you're knitstiks or Jane, please email me and I'll let you know what to do next so you can go get your prize from my shop.]

I plan to create this colorway that Jane suggested. In fact, I liked all three of Jane's colorways. There were a bunch more that I really liked and I'm really excited about trying some new colorways in the coming weeks. I'm thinking of putting these little strips of paper in a bowl and just reaching in and choosing one once in a while at random to create.

I am soooo bad at naming colorways so THANK YOU to all of you who participated!

If you want me to create your yarn colorway please email me at quiltsATcyberisDOTnet or convo me from my Etsy shop and I will interpret your colorway. I have 100% superwash merino fingering weight that has a nice tight twist, a really soft squishy DK weight superwash merino and some super plush fingering weight brushed mohair/nylon (it's 90/10).

Don't forget, I'm still offering free shipping in the U.S. on all purchases.

Not yet

Did you come here looking for winners? I'm struggling to decide on my favorite so I'm giving myself until tomorrow to reveal the winners.

Oh, and did you notice the little date issue? Apparently I'm date impaired... or at least I was last week when I posted the contest. I realized it on Saturday but decided to just leave it and what I can't believe is that no one pointed it out to me. I guess all the talk of color and naming colorways was too distracting.

Anyway, check back tomorrow for winners. See you then.

CONTEST!

I've determined that I get several hits a day (not a lot mind you) to this blog. More, of course, when I post. I'm really not much of a writer but I do like having some place to make announcements about new stuff in my shop. I just don't share much personal stuff or take the time to write about what's on my mind.

In order to maximize the hits I do get and thank those who are taking the time to visit I've decided to have a contest.

Leave me a comment with:

***A sock yarn colorway that you dream of. List off 4-7 colors and give it a name. I may or may not actually create your colorway but I'm interested in what you like and I'm terrible with naming them.

***Deadline*** Wednesday, May 1, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time

***Two (2) winners - one chosen for my favorite colorway (the one I'll be dyeing to try) and one chosen at random.

***Winner gets*** Any one item in my shop. I'm working up some more of the sock knitting bags that will hopefully be up by then plus new yarns here and there as I get them done.

***Random Winner will be chosen when one of my adorable kiddos draw your name out of a hat. (Remind me to take pictures)

***Up to three entries per person in separate comments please.


I really can't wait to see what this contest yields. Will I even get one comment? Mia, are you out there?